Monday, August 30, 2010

Women's Center Internet Survey

We hope everyone is having a great summer! We're working hard to help everyone have a great year back at school and we can use your help. The Women's Center Internet Survey will help us learn what can we do to improve our website, Facebook profile, Twitter presence, and email newsletters. It should only take 5-10 minutes of your time. Thank you and see you soon!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It's Official

OK, it is totally offical. Girl Crush on Amy Klobuchar. She just SHUT DOWN Senator Coburn (R-OK) and his snotty remarks about personal freedom by pointing out that personal freedoms for women are totally different than his version. And then asked Solicitor General Kagan to talk about bringing women up in the legal professions. I am so proud to be married to a Minnesotan (Michelle Bachmann aside...)

CSPAN is NSFW

elle



I still can't decide if it's a good thing that I can stream CSPAN's coverage of the Kagan confirmation hearings at my desk; I'm sure my co-workers are a bit concerned about the seemingly unprovoked bursts of invective coming from my little corner of the WC. Really, this ridiculous political posturing is not good for my blood pressure. Pretty much everyone has agreed that she will be confirmed, meaning that for the first time in history there will be 3 women concurrently serving on the court. Hurray! I am a bit afraid, however, that Justice Ginsburg will retire soon (I was terribly sorry to hear about the passing of her husband on Sunday) and will be replaced by a man to avoid the perception that it's a 'woman's seat'. I guess we will just have to see, but hopefully RBG won't retire any time soon, she is BY FAR my favorite justice. I sat 30 feet from her once and it was one of the greatest moments of my life.

Well, I haven't heard that a vote has been scheduled so until we can watch it at the WC--we had boos and cheers during the Sotomayor vote--there were a few highlights from today:

Diane Feinstein D-CA (girl crush!) closed her questioning with a wonderful wrap up on gender discrimination and Solicitor General Kagan's career of busting glass ceilings

Amy Klobuchar D-MN (potential girl crush) asking Solicitor General Kagan to weigh in on the essential question: Vampires or Warewolves. Priceless!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Check Us Out!

Video from the OSU Women's Center's triumphant dance debut! Thanks to Neha for her patience and clothes...

Who Said Feminism Was Dead?

elle
A wake up call from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:



And I have two things to add (big suprise)
1. Note that childcare responsibilities are not listed here. Add in "carpool", "Halloween costumes" and "baking brownies for your 7 year old's class" and the gap will widen even more.

2. Let's not forget that things like cooking and dishes, laundry, and picking up all the junk on the floor are pretty much constant jobs-done every day. Lawn care, once a week most likely.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Check it out!


I don't usually do this, but another OSU Women's Studies student just posted this song:

Fat Grrrls

and it was so remarkably apropos I just had do share. Enjoy!!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A Fat Feminist Fashionista on a Rampage!

elle

Fat is the news today

I've been wanting to write a bit of a "fat rant" (check out the excellent YouTube videos by that name here)for a while now--particularly since the State of the Union Address when Michelle Obama's campaign against childhood obesity was rolled out--because I am sick and tired of all the misconceptions running around about fat. Then, like a piece of cake on a platter (yes, that was deliberate imagery), today had 2 news stories about size and discrimination; one all bad, one so-so.

First to recap the news:

1. Kevin Smith, director of Clerks and other such defining films of my generation, was removed from a flight for being fat. There are lots of details to the story, and you can read them here, but I want to state here, this was not some 4 seater plane that you have to balance the weight on both sides so you can fly kinda plane, it was a regular ol' flight. A shout out to Mr. Smith for shouting rather than slinking away in humiliation.

2. Fashion week! I have also been wanting to write a fashion post for a while, 'cause some feminists love fashion despite its major issues. Anyway, NPR had a short blurb today on the growing number of 'plus size' models in the shows. It's an interesting read--people know that they should be saying the 'right' thing, but they manage to neatly pass off the responsibility each time. Editors say they would print pictures of larger women if the designers would make the sample sizes to fit them, etc. etc. Then comes the fall from grace--apparently showing women who are not a size 00 would be celebrating an unhealthy lifestyle--i.e. it would be making it OK to be larger. GASP! We certainly can't have that!! ACK!!!

There are so many things going on here that you will have to please pardon me if I miss a few. There was a nice response to the Kevin Smith article from a personal standpoint published today on Slate, but among all the buzz there has been little discussion of the social issues here. We'll get to those in a different post, right now I just want to say fa few things. In no particular order:

1. Fat does not necessarily equal unhealthy
2. Just because you're not saying fat-phobic things doesn't mean that you're a great person, it just means that you're not overt about it (this means you Ms. Givhan).
3. Fat does not necessarily equal unhealthy
4. Fat people are not fat because they're lazy, over-consuming, idiots who are oblivious to their situation. Believe me, they are more aware of it than you are.
5. Fat does not necessarily equal unhealthy
6. The fashion industry can kiss my bootay. According to Robin Givhan from the Washington Post, it's just as bad to glorify larger bodies in our obese nation. Guess what Ms. Givhan I wear those sizes and my BMI (which is a crap measurement we all know) puts me squarely in normal. That's right, not obese, not even overweight, but NORMAL. I say there is nothing wrong with glorifying everyone!

There's a part of her message that really bugs me (and that's not even counting the incredibly unnecessary horizontally hostile comment about Mariah Carey that does nothing to forward her point). It's when she says (in the NPR article): On one end, the fashion industry is showing us these very thin 14- and 15-year-old girls and portraying them as women...On the other hand, there's the unhealthy nature of obesity and the politically correct aspect of saying, "You should be happy with who you are," she said. Guess what, YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY WITH WHO YOU ARE!! For a variety of reasons, one of which is that if you are trying to loose unhealthy weight you will NEVER do it with self-loathing and a desire to look like a model.

So, listen up Ms. Givhan, Ms. Obama, and all the rest of you out there. If we don't work on making people happy with the bodies they have right now, they will never have healthy bodies, fat or thin. In a society rampant with eating disorders (and disordered eating), depression, and an understanding of how dangerous yo-yo dieting is perhaps we should be focusing on what's on the inside.

Stay tuned for a more academic discussion of obesity as a social justice issue--it is.

Rise Up Speak Out for CARDV


Join us on February 18 at Cloud 9 for Rise Up Speak Out-- an open mic night celebrating the voice of resistance against sexual assault and domestic violence. The time has come, and we are standing up and using our creative expression to transform the culture of complacency around violence against women. Presented by the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and ASOSU Women's Affairs Task Force. Two dollar cover charge goes directly to the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence. Bring your spirit. Raise your voice!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

'Cause Not All Femininsts are Women

elle


We here at the Women's Center recognize that not all good feminists are women (although we love the discussion) and as such we want to send a farewell tribute to the amazing activist and social justice powerhouse Howard Zinn who died yesterday at the age of 87.

Dr. Zinn, most famous for his A People's History of the United States (in which I thought the section on women was admittedly a bit weak), was a historian who questioned the established view of history, a radical leftist who spent his last day as a professor picketing in sympathy of a campus nurses' strike, and a teacher who was loved by students (including Alice Walker) but considered a troublemaker by University administrations (my kind a guy!).

Never one to sit back, he was writing and critiquing right up until the end, and his life is an admonition to us younger activists to keep the flame of dissent alive. May he rest in peace, Baruch dayan emet.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Natural Disasters and Women

elle

In honor of Haiti and in reminder of all those who have died around the world (including the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China that killed 70,000-90,000 people Cyclone Nigris in Myanmar, the South East Asian Tsunami, etc. ) I wanted to write about women and natural disasters. Sure, on the surface it seems like everyone is affected pretty much the same in a flood, earthquake, tsunami, etc., but after the initial mess it becomes obvious that women are more vulnerable in a variety of ways; if Hurricane Katrina showed us anything it was an up close and personal view of the dangers of mass evacuations--from death by dehydration to increased rape and murder rates. And while I am not in any way attempting to minimize the suffering of men in these areas, women and children, particularly those who have lost providers, have some specialized needs. Additionally, as women (and children) are more likely to be in poverty to begin with their problems in addressing the fallout from natural disasters are compounded by their lack of social power.

The immediate risks, as horrific as they are, also seem pretty short term when dealing with a disaster of this magnitude. We have a tendency to respond to the here and now, the 24 hour news cycle, and miss the long term effects. Yes, absolutely survivors need to have medical attention, water, food, and shelter now. However, we have to remember that they will also need all of these things next week/month/year. And this leads us to addressing the long term issues. Haiti will be rebuilding for years, and recovery will take decades. Over the long term women definitely have both different needs and concerns. As with war, natural disasters disrupt the social fabric of life as people are forced to rebuild with what they have. Women who have lost male providers (or simply men who earned more in the household) will be scrambling to support their families. Shattered families will be re-formed and care taking roles reassigned, and new marriages with new families will affect everyone. Women (and men) faced with daunting new tasks will need education, childcare support, and healthcare. For them to truly succeed rebuilding must include infrastructure that takes into account women and children's needs.


The upside, if we can even dare refer to one, is that a devastated society has the chance to rebuild. Perhaps the world can help Haiti put a clinic, a school, or a continuing education facility on every corner. Perhaps, as in Rwanda, women faced with new social roles will begin to demand new social equity. All I know is that this is not a short term operation and this global show of support for Haiti must be sustained.



article on gender risks in Haiti